Hello! :) I wrote the below article for our local magazine. This is the second article I've written for them. Hopefully I can become a seasonal writer--right now it's just on a feature basis. Oh, well. The articles are from a "teen's" perspective on different topics. This time it was friendship. Enjoy! 

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Dr. Seuss once said, “Be who you are, and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”

             Truer words have never been spoken.

            It took me a while to understand what he meant. I stared at that quote for a moment, going over it in my head. In a roundabout way, Dr. Seuss was talking about friendships. About how friends accept you for who you are.

            It might be cliché, but the whole concept of ‘be yourself and people will accept you’ is the truth. When I want to make a friend, I’m not going to act like someone I’m not. That is why the friends I have today are ones that will last.

            Last month, I had a slumber party. Seven girls and a night at the drive end resulted in a lot of laughter. For a moment, after everyone arrived, we stood there staring at each other.

            “So…” One of us would say every few seconds.

            Then, don’t ask me why, we were all joking and talking and having a good time. Such is the way of girls--of friends.

            I don’t think you have to spill your every secret, relate every happening of your day, text every hour, or see each other face-to-face every day to call someone your friend. Being accepted by the person, laughing whenever you see them, picking up after a year of not talking to each other in person:  that’s my definition of friendship.

            Suddenly, all these girls around me were friends. They were laughing together (check!); they were accepting one another (double check).  They might not see each other until next year, but I knew they would still get along (check again)!

            That night we didn’t tell many secrets. We really didn’t talk about our day.  We didn’t text at all. But we did laugh a lot at things that didn’t make sense, watched movies until two a.m., did makeup and hair, and stayed up well into the night. Then the next morning the new friends said their goodbyes, exchanging emails and promising to talk soon.

            Friendship is such a general concept, and there are so many ideas and opinions regarding it. For me, I am a little different with each friend.

            My best friend, we tend to drink tea and talk about our books. We both love to write, and we’re both homeschooled. We’ll sit upstairs the whole night, talking away, phone chatting with another friend who lives out-of-state.

            With one girl, we’ll eat candy and watch weird movies.

            Another, talk continually.

            Each of these people is my friend. Why? We can laugh together, talk together, have fun together, and listen to one another. There’s a poem hanging it our house that represents that. It goes:

A friend is one who knows you as you are.

            Understands where you’ve been.

            Accepts who you’ve become.

            And, still gently invites you to grow.

           (Author Unknown)

I have it memorized. I love quotes and verses like that--anything that’s smart and true. I try to pick my friends regarding what the poem says. Be friends with a person you can be yourself around. Be friends with someone kind, considerate, and caring. Be friends with someone you can mess up around--and not be afraid they’ll laugh at you.

Friendships don’t always last, either. I’ve had a couple of those. People change, and both of the people involved will keep bending until it all breaks off. There are those whom I consider acquaintances--people to whom I‘m nice, but aren’t exactly the same as real friends.

I’ve known people who have had friends for a month, some for years, and others for decades. I just hope to be like the ‘decade’ friends. I want to be able to laugh with my best friend when we’re eighty.

If you pick your friends like that, you’ll be fine.

To conclude, I have just to offer some wisdom of Samuel Johnston’s:

"True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and choice."

Sounds good to me.